


Tentacles Get Into Everything, Eventually

by Skye_wyr



Series: WI discord - Key challenge [3]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Ancient Greece, Greek gods, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Serious liberties where taken with mythology, Stone tentacles, Tentacle hair, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 00:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11956383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_wyr/pseuds/Skye_wyr
Summary: James never expected to wake up in a cave. Least of all that it's owner would have a rather....unusualhair...





	Tentacles Get Into Everything, Eventually

**Author's Note:**

> One key challenge some of the people from discord's WI server organized. Key word courtesy of Sleepyoceanprince.

James was cooking alive, it felt as if he were inside a furnace, his clothes felt wet from what he assumed was sweat. There was the rhythmic and unmistakable sound of shaping metal that was only confirmed after the sizzling of it being tempered in water. While the sounds were familiar they felt out of place for he had no reason to be sleeping in a forge. 

He opened his eyes a sliver and didn’t recognize the place from any of the forges he had been in before. He didn’t recognize the back of the man working the metal either, he was certain that he would’ve remembered seeing _that_ behind.

The man had long, dark hair that seemed to be either in dreadlocks or bound into thick sections and adorned with shining bands of different metals as they shined in different colors. He had a broad, muscular back that was glistening with sweat (something felt odd about that, since from this heat he should be dripping with sweat), and the most enticing ass he had ever seen, even through pants that drew even more attention thanks the the bow of the apron he had that rested just on his lower back. 

He tried to move but only managed to produce a groan from his efforts. He felt sore and his left side felt numb. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, even expanding his chest ached. 

“Fantastic, you are awake. I was starting to wonder if your injuries had overcome your capabilities.” There was a small clatter of tools and the sound of moving feet.

James acknowledged his words with another grunt. Moving was proving quite the task, as in, he could shift but not actually move. 

“So… Who is your patron?”

“My what?” James opened his eyes and turned to see the man, which had moved closer and was removing his thick leather apron.

“Or your Sire, no? Your Madam? Usually goddesses are more careful with these things but I suppose-

“Stop! Stop talking!-” James raised his voice.

“Rude” The other man muttered.

“Speak plainly, I have not understood one word of what you just said. What are you even talking about? Who are you and where am I? ”

The man turned and squinted at him, looking him up and down, one arm crossed over his chest holding his side and an elbow resting on it while his hand played with his beard. There was something dark and glittery in the middle of his chest. His head moved from side to side letting out a long hum at the same time he exhaled. 

“I will try to say this as _plainly_ as possible, as you’ve requested. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt since you were in a pretty bad shape as it were. My name is Anthony and you are in my home, and I wanted to know who was your patron or which of your parents was a deity? Your mother or your father? Was that plain enough?”

James just stared back at him blinking in confusion. This man spoke too much too quickly, he barely had the time to process what he had just said before he was talking again. 

“Are you shy? I’ve never met a shy demi-god, fine I’ll go first. My sire is Hephaestus.”

“You think I am a demigod”

Anthony rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. “I don’t _think_ you are a demigod, I _know_ you are one.” 

“How can you be so sure? Also, you just said you are a demi-god too but you look pretty human to me” 

Anthony spoke as if to indicate James was a particularly slow child. “Because... only another demi-god or god or goddess can enter the dwelling of another demi-god uninvited. You couldn’t have barged in otherwise, had you been human you would’ve just seen and felt a cave that wasn’t particularly deep. Besides, my abode in particular has been warded by Hades himself, which just means you were probably closer to death than I had imagined or… did he send you? ” He looked at James suspiciously but then shrugged. “No matter, you are here now. Come on, answer my question, it is rude to ignore your host”

James was starting to be a little dazed by the barrage of words but managed to answer. “Both my parents where human” 

“By Olympus, you can’t just- I said patron first too! I was being polite in my asking and all!” He huffed “So who made you a demigod?”

“No one made me a demi-god! I am NOT a demigod, I’m 100% human. And why can’t I move? What have you done to me?” 

“ _I_ seem to have given you sanctuary, from all that scuffle I heard outside you were being followed. _I_ also kept you alive, you had some pretty impressive wounds on your person, second thing that gave you away as a demigod by the way. I’ll have you know I am not that well versed in healing so your blood did most of the repairing.” Anthony lifted his hands backwards and freed his locks from the pinned position he had them, moving some of them over his shoulder to the front. “I gave you an immobility poison so that you wouldn’t aggravate your wounds in case you decided to toss and turn at some point while I was distracted. It’ll wear off soon enough,” he glanced over at an hourglass” the hourglass is almost empty, you’ve been burning out the poison fairly quickly, there is no need to reapply it now that you are awake.” 

_“You poisoned me!?”_ James eyes were wide and shocked.

Anthony muttered while rolling his eyes “Right, _that_ is what you decide to focus on” one of his locks lifted and wiped some of the sweat on his brow.

James let out a loud yelp. “What is wrong with your hair!? It moved!”

Anthony blinked owlishly, with his large doe eyes, at James.“Eh, it is not hair. It’s… hard to explain.”

“I think I have plenty of time for you to explain, what with the fact I’m _poisoned_ ” James' voice was a tad shrill. 

With a huff Anthony went to drag over a chair while one of his locks snatched a goblet while another a pitcher of wine. 

Anthony set his seat closer to where James was laying down and poured himself a cup of wine. It gave ample time for James to get a real good look at Anthony. He had a lot of starburst scars on his arms, which might be from the sparks of forging metal. There was a particular big collection right on his breastbone where what looked like a onyx was embedded on his chest and it was too smooth and too circular to be the remnants of an accident. It looked like it was placed there on purpose, but who would be mad enough to go through with that? A deem light, like grey smoke, shifted within the stone and it was clear to James that it might as well be work of the gods.

The tendrils that at first James thought where Anthony’s hair were too dark and too life like for him to even guess what they were, or what they were made of. They twitched and shifted gently, when they were still back when Anthony had been working the metal. The tendrils looked smooth, strong and were incredibly dexterous and agile, one lifted a pitcher after all. He idly wondered if they would yield to the touch. 

“Are you the offspring of a gorgon?” 

Tony’s eyes went wide as he swallowed his wine wrong and it dribbled out of his mouth as he choked and then proceeded to cough out what had gone down wrong.

James with a mental wince, wondered if that was a social faux-pas but he had grounds to wonder with _hair_ like that. Even though Anthony’s hair weren’t snakes…

“You couldn’t have waited to ask until after I had drank my mouthful?” Anthony rasped with glaring teary eyes. “Gorgons and gods don’t mix, my mother was human.”

Anthony cleared his throat more vigorously and took a few sips of whine while glaring at James, daring him to speak while he drank. “You have been an exceptionally rude guest. First you barge in and don’t even have the decency of telling me your name, clearly this must be corrected immediately.”

“I’ve found being told you were poisoned into paralysis doesn’t help loosening the tongue. Who would have thought, right?” James scoffed and Anthony made a gesture with a hand conceding his point. As he took another sip one of his locks made a twirling gesture that in a hand would be the equivalent of being told to carry on. With his gaze fixated on the tendril, James finally conceded his answer. “I’m James, I live in a village a few days from here. I was returning from an errand when I got accosted by bandits”.

“Well you did have a satchel with you.” Anthony mentioned. “I’ve left it at the top of your bedding, not that you can see it now but you should be regaining mobility soon. Try moving your fingers? Yeah, see? There you go. You can be more at ease now”

James _did_ feel more relaxed now that he could shift a bit. 

“What did you have on you that was so important to defend against bandits? A smarter person would’ve just let them have at it” Anthony commented offhandedly while refilling his cup.

James scowled “Medicine and herbs… I was sure when they saw I had nothing of value, not even a coin they would’ve taken out their frustration on me after trashing my belongings. Those things were expensive to begin with and I was going to be accosted one way or another. Better to try and get away with my goods intact than having them trashed from the beginning.” 

Anthony hummed. “Well that is a good reasoning I suppose, and in the end your gamble paid off.”

\-------------------------

James regained full command of his body as Anthony had promised and after checking his satchel everything seemed to be in order if the plants a little bruised. He had what felt a broken arm and leg so he was unable to restart his trip back home in his state. Anthony huffed and grumbled about having to take care of James for more time than he already had but when James said that he could hobble back to the nearest village he got shot down very loudly by Anthony about how he was not going to have all his hard work undone by a stubborn demigod with a stupidity complex. There were a lot of waving tendrils involved to illustrate his point.

James refused to impose on Anthony so if he was going to stay he was going to be useful. Anthony groaned and made a production about giving James tasks but his tendrils were swaying and twirling in what James now realized was excitement or happiness. 

Anthony was a very avid talker and his locks gesticulated as much as his hands did, when they were not occupied at least. He got used to their presence faster than he thought he would actually. It had been 5 days after he had barged into Anthony’s life when he finally got touched with one of them, even if it had been an accident. 

James had been cleaning some of Anthony’s tools when he had casually asked for a cloth and when he turned to grab it he accidentally took hold of the tendril as well. It was cool and really smooth and it had a bit of a give but both of them drew back almost instantly from the surprise and mutual sorries were given simultaneously. 

No one mentioned anything and slowly got their rhythm back and where chattering to each other.

\-------------------------

Anthony had fallen asleep over the bench while working and James had tried to at least place his body in a comfortable position when one of Anthony’s tendrils had curled around his wrist. James had froze in surprise and had tried to gently pry it away but it just earned him another one wrapped on his wrist. He leaned against the bench and wondered what to do. Since prying didn’t help he took the chance to stroke the locks and explored the texture. They felt cool like stone and didn’t pulse, but he could feel how the ones warped on him were warming up with his body heat. The more time he remained petting the locks, the more they relaxed until they loosened up. After debating with himself a few moments he extracted his arm and left Anthony and his handsy tentacles to rest.

\-------------------------

“Do you feel anything with those?” Bucky made a vague motion towards Anthony’s hair, remembering the time he was petting them.

“Hm?” Anthony looked up from his assembling.

“With your… tentacles?”

“Well… that is certainly a way to call them I suppose…” He hummed and looked upwards, thinking. “They’re not sensitive like human skin, but I can feel heat and pressure. They are very malleable, I mean they are an extension of me and it is unconcious most of the time. Like… I could use them to fetch something from the forge without protection and I would be fine. They… have both the properties of onyx and of being attached to me. It’s… I’ve never had to put all of this into words, I just… adapted.” Anthony shrugged a bit self consciously and went back to his work, his tendrils coiling uneasily and remaining close to his body.

“I just found them fascinating… I like them” Anthony’s hair seemed to loosen up a bit. James knew when he should back off and went onto asking what he was working on instead. He could always count on this route to get Anthony talking again.

\-------------------------

His arm and leg took a month to heal enough so that he could walk without limping and it didn’t hurt to move it and hold things. James had to wonder if Anthony was speaking the truth about himself being a demigod. He had never gotten sick and if he had nasty bruises or scrapes he always healed pretty quickly, but he had thought that compared with his sickly friend that would be normal. At the very least, he should still have a bit of a limp he supposed.

He looked over at where Anthony was shaping the metal and thought it might be time to leave, he had imposed long enough.

\-------------------------

Early the next day he brought it up.

“I must go, I need to get back to give the medicine to my friend, he needs looking after, even if they adamantly refuse to accept it.”

Tony didn’t look away from the object he was carefully assembling. “Ah... A prideful friend. Yes, that seems like a complicated case.” 

“I will be back again, though.” James tried to reassure his companion. “I still have to repay my debt.”

“First of all, we are not even sure you could find me again, and second of all, what would a _not a demigod-_ ” four tentacles raised and did sarcastic motions that accentuated the tone in Tony’s voice. “would have to offer me.”

“How about company?” James answered back teasing and a bit exasperated. 

Tony’s tendrils fell down again and shifted restlessly but their owner didn’t say anything in response.

With more of a friendly gentle tone James reiterated. “I’ll be back, promise. I’ll find a way.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Anthony said, and even softer “don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

James bit his lip debating whether to do something and walked next to Anthony while he stayed there motionless, waiting for him. Gently, James curled a finger around one of the tendrils and gave it a squeeze. “I _will_ come back Anthony”. It gave him a squeeze back and held on for a few more seconds before quickly extricating itself and Anthony returned to his work. Not another word was said.

\-------------------------

It took James two months to go back to Anthony’s. His friend Steve had been extremely worried since he was supposed to have been back a long time ago. Steve was pretty sceptical at first when he told him about Anthony, but James didn’t have reason to lie about his whereabouts so in the end he believed him. James also told Steve about how Anthony had said that James was a demigod. Steve teased him good naturedly about it but didn’t know either; their mothers had been close and neither had ever hinted about such a thing.

James had to convince Steve to stay when he mentioned wanting to go back to visit Anthony. He mentioned how he didn’t know if he would be able to get in through the same place he had the last time and he didn’t want to risk taking Steve if it was all for naught. He promised, however, to take him along next time if everything end up great. James was thinking that if everything worked out he would he would look into moving to the closest village to Anthony, Steve and himself didn’t really have anything that tied them down to their own village besides memories. 

James was standing by the entrance of the cave with his stomach in knots, worried about what he would do if he couldn’t get in again and worried about what it would mean if he _could_ get in. Shaking his head and taking a deep breath he forced himself to walk into the darkness. With an outstretched hand he touched the end of the cave soon enough and felt his heart constrict. Resting his head against the cool rock he let out a shaky breathe that soon turned into a nearly silent yelp when the rock gave and wasn’t there the next moment. His heartbeat accelerated, elated. 

Leaving his worries behind for the moment he walked deeper into Anthony’s home searching for the man. He found him on the bedding where he had been resting the first time he woke up. There were cups and empty flagons and skins of wine around him. James’ chest felt tight wondering if he had caused this. Anthony had never gotten as drunk when he was around as the amount of wine around indicated. He left his satchel where he stood and walked closer careful to not topple anything over or sending anything spiraling. Clearing a place near the man he sat down and caressed his head, carding his hand through the sluggish tentacles.

They cuddled his hand but Anthony seemed to finally register his presence for they tightened hard on his hand and hardened like stone and a raspy but angry voice said. “What the shit? What are you doing bitch face?”

“Hey, shh, It’s ok Anthony, It’s me, James” The tendrils turned soft and malleable like before and gave his hand a gentle massage in apology but didn’t let go. 

“James?” One of his hands clumsily moved up to touch his forearm and followed up his shoulder to his face where bleary eyes zeroed in and his other hand joined to cradle. “It is not a drunk dream, is it? You’ve been gone a long time”

James stomach did a little flip. “I’m real, I’m here” His other hand cupped one of Anthony’s. Slowly he leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead where many of his other tentacles caressed every part of him they could reach. He was about to lean back when he felt held in place by immovable tentacles. “Anthony?”

“Don’t go” Came the small answer. 

James gave another kiss to his forehead and promised “I am not going anywhere. Let me lay down?” 

Reluctantly their hold loosened and James quickly got onto the bedding with Anthony cradled besides him on his chest. The tentacles didn’t lose a moment and quickly splayed themselves all over him, with several wrapping over his chest and others wrapping around his arms, effectively making him a prisoner. James didn’t particularly mind for he had nowhere else he wanted to be. The tentacles were gently squeezing and caressing him, lulling James into sleep. “I’ll be here when you wake up, I swear”

\-------------------------

James felt how he was snuggly being massaged with several appendages at the same time. He gave a little moan for his muscles were sore and it felt heavenly. Next he registered soft quick kisses all over his neck and jaw that made him hum in contentment and a moan elicited by having his ass squeezed. He had had dreams like this before that felt like this, but the giggle that came from in front of him was what shattered the illusion and had him opening his eyes.

There were Anthony’s dark honey mirthful eyes accompanied by a grin that illuminated his face. “For a moment I could’ve sworn all of it had been a dream but not even I can give justice in my imagination of how nice these feel in real life” came the teasing words accompanied by another squeeze on his ass. 

James groaned and he tightened his hold on Anthony that moaned in kind and made James turn a leering smile at Anthony. “Well, it seems I got handsy too. I’ve missed seeing these globes while you work,” He grinned “but I’ve missed you the most” his eyes and smiled softened.

“I’ve missed you just as much”

“It feels like all of you did” He laughed a little at how all of Tony seemed to squeeze him a little tighter for a second. 

“You said you liked them…” Anthony gave a small nervous smile.

“I did, I do. I’ve wondered how they would feel wrapped around me. Can’t say I gave them enough justice, they feel much better all snug around me, but mostly because they are you and it means you are holding me.”

Anthony smiled happily and mischievously “I could show you how much more snuggly I could hold other parts of you”

James returned his smile ten fold. “Can’t say I would mind if you did.”


End file.
